Assembly means for firearms



Dec. l, 1942. c. G. swEBlLlus 2,303,510

ASSEMBLY MEANS FOR FIREARMS Filed July 2, 1941 2 Sheets-Sheet l Dec. 1, 1942. c. G. sWEBlLlUs ASSEMBLY MEANS FOR FIREARMS Filed July 2, 1941 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Dec. l, 1942 UNITE STES PA ENT i Claims.

The present invention relates to improvements in :Iirearms and more particularly to 'means whereby the elements of the rearm may be held in assembled relationship with capacity for ready disassembly.

The present invention is particularly designed for use in military firearms, though available for use in other types of firearms. since for military service irearms are required which may be readily taken apart for cleaning and reassembled in the very minimum of time and under the most adverse conditions.

One of the objects of the present invention is to provide a superior rearm-construction whereby separable elements of the rearm may be releasably but securely held in assembled relationship with capacity for being freed from such relationship in a minimum of time.

A further object ,of the present invention is to provide a superior iirearm-,construction whereby the elements thereof may be securely held in assembled relationship with capacity for being demounted by the employment of such a simple tool as a cartridge or by the ilngers of the user when required. V

With the above and other objects in view, as will appear to those skilled in the art from the present disclosure, this invention includes all features in the said disclosure which are novel over the prior art and which are not claimed in any separate application.

In the accompanying drawings, in which certain modes of carrying out the present invention are shown for illustrative purposes:

Fig. 1 is a view in side elevation of self-loading repeating firearm embodying the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a view of the central portion of the firearm structure shown partly in vertical central-longitudinal section and partly in side elevation, with the parts shown in cocked position preparatory to the discharge of the firearm;

Fig. 3 is a transverse sectional view taken on the line 3-3 of Fig. 2:

Fig. 4 is a similar view taken on the line 4-4 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 5 is abroken top or plan view of the lower receiver-member and a portion of the buttstock;

Fig. 6 is a perspective view of the mountingand-retaining screw, detached; and

Fig. 7 is a similar view of one of the L-shaped resilient mounting-and-retaining members, detached.

The particular iirearm herein chosen for purposes of illustrating the present invention is of the self-loading repeating type wherein cartridges may be tired singly for each pull of the trigger or the mechanism may be set to sequentially discharge an entire magazine full of cartridges. The said rearm comprises a buttstock I0, a two-part receiver generally designated by the reference character II, a barrel I2 and a fore-end grip I3.

The receiver II above referred to includes an upper receiver-member I4 and a complement-a1 lower receiver-member I5, which are normally firmly and rigidly coupled together by any suitable means such, for instance,` as the means i1- lustrated in my co-pending application, Ser. No. 361,208, illed October 15, 1940. The said upper receiver-member I4 is generally of cylindrical form exteriorly and has the barrel I2 rigidly extending forwardly from its iront end. The said barrel in turn has the fore-end grip I3 rigidly attached to and depending from it, as is shown particularly well in Fig. 1.

The upper receiver-member It is formed in its interior with a substantially-cylindrical boltreceiving chamber I6 extending longitudinally of the said receiver-member and accommodating with capacity for reciprocating movement a substantially-cylindrically-contoured reciprocating breech-bolt Il. The said breech-bolt I1 is urged forwardly by a helical breech-closing spring I8 mounted upon a breech-closing plunger I9 having a head 20 seated in a forwardly-opening pocket 2i formed in the forward face of an integral upwardly-extending portion 2id formed at the rear of the lower receiver-member I5, as is especially well shown in Figs. 2 and 5. At its rear the bolt-receiving chamber I6 in the upper receiver-member I4, has communicating with it a longitudinal clearance-passage 22 communicating at its lower end with an upwardly-opening longitudinal mechanism-receiving chamber 23 formed in the lower receiver-member I5. At its rear the mechanism-receiving chamber 23 just referred to intersects the space enclosed by a trigger-guard 24 formed integral with and depending from the under portion of the lower receiver-member I5.

Located within the space defined by the lntegral trigger-guard 24 above referred to, is the finger-piece 25 of a pivotal trigger 26 located mainly in the lower rear portion of the mechamsm-receiving chamber 23 in the lower receivermember I5, as is shown particularly well in Fig. 2. The said trigger 26 is mounted for pivotal movement upon a relatively-short pivot-arm 21 of a resilient mounting-and-retaining member arm 21 extending through and supported in complemental coaxial transverse passages 30-30 respectively formed inthe side walls of the lower receiver-member I on each of the respective opposite sides of the mechanism-receiving chamber 2'3 therein. The retaining-arm 29 of the resilient mounting-and-retaining member 28 extends forwardly from the pivot-arm 21 and has its forward end normally entered into an inwardlyopening retaining-groove 3| formed in the inner face of the head 32 of a mounting-and-retaining screw generally designated by the reference character 33.

The mounting-and-retaining screw 33 above referred to also includes a relatively-short cylindrically-contoured neck 34 centrally extending inwardly from the head 32 and arranged so that its inner face constitutes, in effect, an annular inwardly-facing stop-shoulder 35 normally seated against or located closely adjacent to the adjacent outer face of the lower receiver-member rojecting inwardly, in turn, from the neck 34 of the mounting-and-retaining screw 33 is a .threaded shank 36 threadedly engaged with a threaded bore 31 formed in the left side wall of the lower receiver-member I5, as is particularly well shown in Fig. 4. The mounting-and-retaining screw 33 also includes a cylindrically-contoured pivot-pin 38 of sufficient length to extend completely across the mechanism-receiving chamber 23 in the receiver-member l5 and into a cylindrically-contoured bore 39 formed in the right side wallof the lower-receiver-member I5 in axial alignment with the threaded bore 31 before referred to.

Upon the portion'of the pivot-stem 38 of the mounting-and-retaining screw 33 spanning the mechanism-receiving chamber 23 is the forward portion of a sear 40. The said sear is formed at its upper rear corner with a cooking-nose 4| reward portions normally fitting within an inwardly-opening retaining-groove 48l formed in the inner face of the head 32 of the mountingand-retaining screw 33 before referred to.

. chamber 23 in the lower receiver-member I5.

Interposed between the trigger 28 and the searactuating lever 45 is a helical spring 5I which exerts a constant but yielding effort of a relativelylight character to swing the trigger 26 in a counterclockwise direction (Fig. 2) and the searleasably engageable by the rear wall of a cocking-notch 42 formed in the under face of the breech-bolt |1. 'Ihe said sear 40 is yieldingly l urged to turn in a clockwise direction (as viewed in Fig. 2) by a helical Sear-spring 43 thrusting at its upper end against the under face of the sear 40 and thrusting downwardly at its lower end against the lower receiver-member I5. At its lower rear portion and below its cooking-nose 4I, the sear 46 is provided with a rearwardly-extendingv actuating-lip 44 with the upper face of which is engageable the forward `portion of a pivotal Sear-actuating lever 45. 'I'he said lever 45 is pivotally mounted about midway' of its length upon the pivot-arm 46 of a resilient L- shaped mounting-and-retaining member generally designated by the-reference character 441 and corresponding to the mounting-and-retaining member 28 before referred to. Like the member 28, the mounting-and-retaining member 41 is provided with a relatively-long retaining-arm 48 having its outer or free portion bent slightly outwardly beyond right-angled relationship with the pivot-arm 46 in a manner similar to the arrangement of the respective arms 21 and 23 of the companion member 28. The retaining-arm 48 extends forwardly along .the left side wall of the lower receiver-member I5 and has its foractuating member 45 in a clockwise direction.

Pivotally mounted in the upper rear portion of the trigger 26 is a Sear-actuating dog 52 having an upwardly-facing actuating-abutment 53 which is adapted to engage with the under face A of the rear portion of the scar-actuating lever 45.

It is to be noted that the tension of the spring 5I is markedly less than the tension of the more rugged Sear-spring 43 so that despite the constant effort of the said spring 5| to turn the searactuating lever 45 in a direction required to depress the rear end of the sear 40, that nevertheless such effort is effectively resisted by the Sear-spring 43. A

With the breech-bolt' in its cocked positionl as shown in Fig. 2, the said breech-bolt may be released for firing the gun by pulling rearwardly upon the finger-piece 25 of the trigger 26, thus causing the said trigger to swing about the pivot-arm 21 to thereby lift the actuating-dog 52 and cause the same to rock the Sear-actuating lever 45 in a clockwise direction about the pivotarm 46 before referred to. The movement of the Sear-actuating lever 45 as just described will cause the forward end thereof to rock the rear end of the sear 48 downwardly to thereby disengage the cooking-nose 4I of the said sear from the cooking-notch 42 of the breech-bolt I1.

The trigger 26, dog 52, lever 45, sear 40 and associated parts may be viewed as elements of the firing-mechanism of the firearm and should it be desired in the particular structure chosen for illustration to demount the trigger 26, lever pivot-arms 21 and 46 into the positions in which they are. indicated by broken llines in Fig. l. When the said mounting-and-retainfng members 26 are freed as just above described, they may be withdrawn laterally away from the rearmstructure completely free to thereby release the trigger 26 and Sear-actuating lever 45 for complete removal from the firearm.

The release of the resilient mounting-andretaining members 28 and 41 will in turn release the mounting-and-retaining-screw 33 for being unscrewed from the lower receiver-member I5 and completely separated therefrom to thereby free the sear 48 for withdrawal from the lower receiver-member.

It is to be noted that when the mountingand-retainin'g-members 28 and 41 are in assembled relationship with respect to the mounting- The retaining-groove 49 just referred to corresponds and-retaining screw 33, the said members are prevented from accidental displacement by their engagement with the said screw 33 and, conversely, the engagement of the said mountingand-retaining members serve to hold the mounting-and-retaining screw 33 against turning movement with respect to the lower receivermember i5.

In the particular instance shown in the accompanying drawings, it happens to be the trigger 26 and scar-actuating lever l5 which are pivotally mounted upon the mounting-and-retaining members 28 and 41 respectively, though other demountable features of a iirearm may be held in place. Thus, while the mounting-andretaining screw 33 serves as a pivot for the sear i S0, the said( screw orV its equivalent may be employed for demountably supporting another removable element of a rearm-structure without departing from the inventive concept of the present invention.

It is to be noted that the lateral boundaries of the retaining-grooves 3l and 49 in the screw 33 act in effect as stop-abutments to keep the respective retaining-arms 2d and 48 from being accidentally swung about their respective pivotarms 21 and d6,

From the foregoing, it will be seen that by employing a mounting-and-retaining screw such as 33 or its equivalent in conjunction with one or more resilient mounting-and-retaining members such as 23 or its equivalent, a mutual readily-releasable interlocking eect is achieved which permits the very rapid demounting of the firearm parts and their reassembly.

'Ihe invention may be carried out in other specic ways than those herein set forth without departing from the spirit and essential characteristics of the invention, and the present embodiments are, therefore, to be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive, and all changes. coming within the meaning and equivalency range of the appended claims are intended to b'e embraced therein.

I claim:

l. A rearm including in combination: a frame having a iirst passage and a second passage therein spaced from each other and extending in substantial parallelism; a iirst element detachably related to the said frame and having a passage therein; a secqnd element also detachably related to the said frame and having a passage therein; a mounting-and-retaining screw extending through the said iirst passage in the said frame and into the passage in the said rst element, the said screw having threaded engagement with one of the said passages; and a resilient mounting-and-retaining member having two angularly-related arms one oi' which extends through the said second passage in the said frame and into the passage in the said second element and the other arm of the resilient mounting-and-retaining member extending into elastic releasable engagement with the said mounting-and-retaining screw to yieldingly hold the same against turning movement and to be itself held against displacement by engagement with the said screw.

2. A rearm including in combination: a frame having a first passage .and a second passage therein spaced from each other and extending in substantial parallelism; a first element detachably related to the said frame and having a passage therein; a second element also detachably related to the said frame and having a pass'ge therein; a mounting-and-retaining screw extending through the said rst passage in the gagement with the stop-abutment of the-saidY *Y mounting-and-retaining screw to yieldingly hold the same against turning movement and to be itself held against displacement by engagement with the said screw.

3. Aiirearm including in combination: a frame having a rst passage and a second passage therein spaced from each other and extending in substantial parallelism; a first element detachably related to the said frame and having a passage therein; a second element also detachably related to the said frame and having a passage therein; a mounting-and-retaining screw extending through the said rst passage in the said frame and into the passage in the said first element, the said screw having threaded engagement with one of the said passages and having a head provided on its inner face with a stop-abutment facing toward the axis of the screw; and a resilient mounting-and-retaining member having two angularly-related arms one of which extends through the said second passage in the said frame and into the passage in the said second element and the other of which arms extends into elastic releasable engagement with the stop-abutment on the inner face of the head of the said mounting-and-retaining screw to yieldingly hold the same against turning movement and to be itself held against displacement by engagement with the said screw.

4. A iirearm including in combination: a frame having a first passage and a second passage therein spaced from each other and extending -in substantial parallelism; a first element detachably related to the said frame and having a passage therein; a second element also detachably related to the said frame and having a passage therein; a mounting-and-retaining screw extending through the said first passage in the said frame and into the passage in the said rst element, the said screw having threaded engagement with one of the said passages and having an overhanging head formed in its inner face with a tangential inwardly-opening groove; and

a resilient mounting-and-retaining member 

